Best Drivers and Support for Graphics Card ????

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Forgive me if this question has been answered already and point me in the right direction.

I am getting ready to buy a new graphics card for a new pc I am building. I have searched high and low for something to tell me which graphics card has the most support for Linux. When I think ATI then I see something about Nvidia.

I am looking for a card that would allow me to play games, watch dvds, and push out to a tv?

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I'd say support with all the features you want under Linux is probably NVIDIA. I would recommend the Geforce FX 5600 for midrange to low budget ( a little under 200 or so). If you do any gaming in Windows, though, and want the best peformance overall, I would say ATI. I have seen benchmarks where ATI whoops on NVIDIA in the low to mid range. Also, the All in Wonder series has a built in tv tuner and such if that interests you although you will pay extra for it. I would recommend a Radeon 9600 in mid range. The pro is worth the extra money for years to come unless you plan on upgrading in the near future. If you have the budget, buy an All in Wonder Radeon 9600 pro or an 9600 XT. 9800's are good to, but get a 9600 pro before you get a regular 9800 due to clock speeds and such. The ultimate kick ass card from NVIDIA for $500 will beat out a Radeon 9800 XT. This card is the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra with 256MB RAM. Since most people dont have a budget such as this, I would recommend the earlier cards. Also the ultra version of the GeforceFX 5600 is worth the extra money. I would also like to say that I am a fan of ATI but in linux I think NVIDIA is supported with 3d and such more thoroughly, but check ATI's website to see if they have drivers then it will be just as supported.

Also remeber to compare specs between vendors. Some have slight adjustments in clock speeds. No matter how small such as 10MHz core clock speed just remeber that these cards are probably running around 350MHz which is slow compared to todays processors and if a jump in FSB speeds from 400 to 533 in the P4 can make a big difference think about the small minute differences in the core clock speeds. Remember, spend enough to get you well ahead of current games so you wont be lagging next spring. Make sure it is DirectX9 compliant if you run windows and even if you dont. I would base your minimum specs on DOOM 3 or Half Life 2 specs as bare minimum since games having higher requirements will be out in the next year.

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If Linux is you're only concern then nVidia's probably your best bet. Even in the most basic test imaginable (glxgears) my 9500 Pro gets less than half what even a GF4 Ti4200 can achieve. In fact, the overall performance of the drivers has actually dropped over the 8 months I've been using it. Under Windows though the tables are turned with the 9500 Pro able to convincingly edge out most of it's competitors in the same price bracket.

Ultimately it'll come down to what OS you see yourself doing the most 3D intensive stuff in. If you plan to dual boot and do all your gaming etc in Windows then go ATi but if you're planning on doing all your 3D stuff in Linux then go nVidia.

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That is exactly the information I was looking for. Most of my 3D and gaming will be on the windows side so I think I will go with the ATi brand unless I can shell out the money fo an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra.

I am also leaning towards a CRT vs. a LCD simply because the price and in order to really utilize a card such as these. If I do that then the money I save on LCD will go toward the graphics card since I only buy a new one every few years and in the past only the cheapest.

That NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra should be feasible for a few years right??